If you could pick one word that you wished best described you, what would it be?

I always said I wanted that word to be joyful. Yes, I wish people thought of me as joyful. and if you know me any at all you are probably laughing your arse off right now. I know I am not joyful no matter how much I yearn to be. I don't think people would even describe me as nice. And certainly not approachable. Which is where this whole post is going.

The past 3 times I have gone running, I have been stopped by random people in hopes that I would answer a question. All 3 times there have been plenty of other people that these randoms could have stopped. People who
a. weren't running
b. didn't have head phones on
and
c. were much, much, much more approachable than me.

So I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why these people stop me while I am in obvious misery. Anyone?

Not so little anymore

I have a new kind of leverage around here with W. I have to admit that I thought it was really cute last night when he said it for the first time. and I got kind of weepy. It was just yet another moment in time that reminded me that my baby is growing up.

W climbed out of his bath and I wrapped him up in the towel. I don't remember exactly what I said but it was something like, "you are my cute little baby".

"I am not little!" he snapped. "I am big. P is your little baby."

He's right. He's not little anymore...although he will always be my little baby. So, yes, I was sad and it still makes me sad thinking that he is old enough to not want to be my little boy anymore. But oh, the leverage it gives me. My mind is racing. How can I use this to my advantage? The first thing that came to mind was using it to convince him to poo poo in the potty. Only little babies poo poo in their underwear. Big boys poo poo in the potty. Right? Are you with me?

Chicken and brine and soggy skin

Someone inquired about the results of my chicken brining project. I didn't live up to my post. I neither keep you posted nor took photos. But I can tell you that it was delicious. The bird was the most tender bird I have ever put in my mouth. The seasoning was just right and I can't wait to do it again. The only issue was the soggy skin. I like my chicken skin crispy. Any other way I get totally grossed out. So next time I will do one thing differently.

I will take the chicken from the brine and pat it dry. Then I will let it sit for a few minutes and pat it dry again and a third time for good measure. Hopefully that will allow for most of the moisture to drain from the bird and I can get a good crisp on.

W is the sweetest kid around. believe me, he has his moments and usually they are with Master P but for the most part he is sweet to him too. and he ALWAYS shares his snacks with him in the car. "Here P, I will share my goldfish with you."

Today we went to the zoo after school. My mom insisted even though it is one of my only days this week that I had to myself. So we went and W hasn't been feeling to hot-something with his stomach- and isn't eating. I fed Pman before we left and brought some goldfish for W in case he wanted something to eat. I ended up giving them to P and he was happily scarfing them down on the way home. Then W asked him for a goldfish. I turned around only to see Pman cut his eyes around and not respond. He asked again and Pman said, "No."

We all thought that we just hadn't heard Pman right. He isn't fully talking, just one word here and there and he responds to things mainly by doing unless it's a yes answer so I asked him myself just to be sure we weren't crazy.

"Pman, can you share your goldfish with W?"

He said it again, "No." Plain and simple, he knew what he was saying. and then he just started saying it again and again finally ending with an "Uh Uh!"

It was a major moment in big brother and little brother history and strangely it said a lot about how Pman is going to be. Definitely not the sweet sharer that W is. But I tell you one thing, W is going to catch on fast. What comes around goes around Little Man.

Brining Chicken

I am brining a chicken as we speak. I was inspired by Uncle RaRa. He just brined some cornish hens, so I thought I would try brining a chicken. I kind of wung the recipe. I listened to his tips and red some of Emeril's recipe but in the end I did this:

I bought a 3 gallon Ziploc bag.
I filled it with a 1/2 cup of brown sugar, salt and orange juice
Then I added a gallon of water, some crushed garlic pods, peppercorns, cumin seeds, cilantro and Herbes de Provence and put it in the icebox.

I will let it soak until ready to cook (about 6-7 hours)

I am very excited about the whole thing. I will let you know how it turns out and provide photos of course.

Poo Poo in the Potty!!!!!

and boy did we dance! W poo pooed in the potty today. and we whooped it up like nobody's business. Now, the truth is I was helping him unbutton his pants to pee pee and I noticed a skid (sorry to get graphic) so I took his big boy underwear off and was going upstairs to get more. When I came downstairs he told me there was poo poo in the potty. So whether he actually intentionally pooed in the potty or it was already half out and it just dropped in(again, sorry to get graphic) I don't know but I ran with it. He couldn't wait to do his POO POO Dance and get a treat. Then he said, "Daddy will be soooo happy!" so we called and told Daddy all about it.

Now I am on pins and needles waiting to see if this will be the start of something beautiful. Aren't you?

Blue jeans:wear or wash?

A few weeks ago I inadvertently was listening to Big D & Bubba on the radio. I hate them but the car radio was tuned to their station and I just didn't change it. I don't know why. They were conducting a survey about blue jeans. The question of the day was whether it was okay to where jeans more than once before washing them. Not very interesting, I didn't think, until I heard the majority of the answers. Most people thought it was okay to wear them max 2 times but after that it was disgusting. and they were really disgusted. That is what I found interesting. Maybe I am disgusting but I can't count the times I wear my jeans before washing them. Denim is pretty durable, you can't really see stains and I wear......them......out. Of course if I have just gone to Superior Grill where you leave smelling like body odor I am barely in the door before they are off my body and in the wash. I need to know what my fans think. Am I just plain dirty or does anyone else share my opinion?

Catholic Guilt

I always feel guilty about something. Always. and I know it's because I was raised Catholic. My mom is catholic and is REALLY good at laying on a guilt trip. The funny thing is that I know when she is doing it so one would think that I would be able to rise up above it but I can't. It's the little things too. It doesn't have to be anything major that makes me feel guilty. For example, my dad sometimes calls right when we sit down to dinner. and I am tired of all the screaming and I am hungry and just want to eat so when I answer the phone I am a bit short with him. God, the guilt. So I always call back and try to sound chipper even when I am not because I feel so guilty that I was short with my sweet dad. No one could ask for a better dad. NO ONE! I don't care what you say.

Anyway, the reason for my guiltiness right this minute is that I am drinking wine. I gave it up for Lent during the week but I just couldn't help myself. J says now that we have joined the Episcopal church that we don't have to sacrifice during Lent. I beg to differ but even if that were the case....you can take the girl out of the church but you can't take the church out of the girl.

MMMMM.....that's delicious.

p.s. I would love to hear what you are feeling guilty about. It would make me feel less guilty.

Gift Card Scam? I wonder.

I hate that I have been so sporadic in my blogging. I am not really sure why. I did have my 20th high school reunion-20TH!!!!-last weekend so I was busy reminiscing and I will certainly post about that soon.

Aunt JoJo gave me the best birthday present and I redeemed it yesterday. All I wanted was a day to myself. My dad said to arrange it and he would pay for it but that hardly seemed enjoyable when I had to figure out how to arrange it-not that he didn't have the best of intentions but JoJo-she did it right and said she could come on Monday, March 16th. She told me not to just run errands but to enjoy the day. I have to admit I did a few mundane things but I also got a massage. It was easiest the best massage I have had in awhile. But let me get to the point. The point of this story is not that I had a great day all to myself-although that it was. It wasn't that I have the best sister-in-law in the world, which I do but it's about something fishy going on over at Belladonna Day Spa on magazine.

I had accumulated a buttload of gift cards from this place. and I don't really like to get gift cards because I never use them. Although I am an anal retentive scheduler when it comes to my kids, I don't like to make appointments for myself. Can't really explain it so I won't try. Anyway, I had a bunch of cards and awhile back I brought them in and asked them to tell me the value on each card. Which they did and wrote it on the back of each one. That was probably 2 years ago and I haven't taken them out of my wallet since. To make a long story short, when I went to pay with my last remaining gift cards they said one had a zero balance. Not possible. I talked to the manager after I had already just paid the balance but nothing was done about it. I have since heard of 3 other people to which this has happened. Is it a computer glitch? If not something not right is going on over there in the form of a gift card scam and I want to get to the bottom of it. The manager called me at home but I wasn't back yet and I called her back today, twice. One person said she was working and would call me back. The other person said she wasn't working. Is she avoiding me? I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday Wine Down

I've given in and am drinking wine. I feel awful about it but not awful enough to stop. Now that I am an honorary Episcopalian I have let my extreme Catholic guilt fall by the wayside. It was a pretty long day and after consulting with several people I decided to do it. So on that note....

IT'S WEDNESDAY WINE DOWN!

Pick yourself up a bottle of Little Penguin Cabernet-the purple label. I'm sorry my wine selections are so common but until after Lent that is how it will be. Don't get my wrong. As of last Friday when I had the purple label for the first time it's my favorite of the LP's. Try it, you'll like it.

One day I am bored out of mind (see post) and the next I am giddy watching the world through the eyes of a 3 and half year old. I know how lucky I am to have my boys but sometimes I have to remind myself to stop and truly enjoy them. It's easy to get caught up in the boredom of day to day life and preoccupy myself with cooking and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I am not a neat freak by any means but sometimes I can't help but feel that I am suffocating in Clorox wipes. Anyway, today was one of those days that I was suffocating until John came home and told me I could go running. I got halfway down the block and realized that I had just had a snack and ton of water and I could feel the cramp setting in and well, I just wasn't in the mood. I turned around, went home and put my earphones in W's ears while he was eating and he was....well, giddy. and I was giddy watching him.


It just goes to show that I have to let my hair down and be spontaneous with them even if it's as simple as shoving ear phones in their ears. Especially on the days that I have stepped in wild cat poo in my yard and got it not only on my shoe but all over my legs and my house. That's a whole 'nother story entirely.

HOOOOOO-RAY! for swimming

This parenting thing, it can be frustrating. More than half the time I am pulling my hair out while treading through some developmental milestone or trying to master a new skill with one of the boys. and we've had some rough times. Boy Howdy. But when you finally get to the other side and they realize that they too are glad they learned to do it after the fact-it's like a big HOOOOOO-RAY! And we all jump up and down and do it the hooray thing together. It's quite fun. The most memorable issue is the potty training. and as everyone knows we are still working through the #2 portion of it all but what keeps me going is that I know when we have success we will have the biggest HOOOOO-RAY! and poo poo on the potty dance that any mom has ever seen and it will all have been worth it. I can't wait!

The latest is the swimming. I am desperate for W to swim this summer so we have him enrolled in lessons right now. He has an immense fear of water. It's not for lack of exposing him to swimming pools. We've done lesson after lesson at this place. We spent the majority of the summer at a pool but still the fear is there. I don't know how it happened but today, TODAY, was the big HOOOOOO-RAAAAAY! He didn't shed one tear. He jumped off the side twice and glided through the water. He floated on his back and kicked his legs, all with the help of his amazing teacher, of course, but he did it. It's interesting because most kids this age love to blow bubbles and I have never seen W blow bubbles. He's not very good at blowing in general-like candles or soap bubbles. He lets his teeth get in the way. The teacher said the same thing- He won't blow bubbles on top of the water but it's the darndest thing. She says he regulates his breathing (meaning he blows bubbles) under the water. Instinct I guess. So please, if you have the time, take a minute for one big HOOOOO-RAY!

Lent and alcohol

We gave up drinking during the week for Lent. J is going to a party this afternoon. I asked him if he were going to have a drink. He smiled and said it was a work function. That's a yes. He is using the party as an excuse to cheat on his sacrifice. Well, I have a work function too! 24 hours/7 days a week I have a work function over here so if we can drink for work WAHOO! than I can drink pretty much all of the time!

Bored and Boring

I'm afraid I have gotten boring. and I don't like the feeling. A friend called yesterday who I hadn't talked to in eons and she asked what was going on. Not much. That's all I could say. I mean, really, does anyone else really want to hear that we're potty training over here, or that Pman lost his shoe at Target yesterday? or how about that W is still wishing me Happy Birthday and my birthday was yesterday. Do they want to hear that Porter said his name for the first time. Do they want to know that I was waiting with baited breath to watch The Bachelor season finale or that I was in them middle of cooking eggs for the baby. I just don't think they do. Not because I wouldn't want to hear it. I love hearing the mundane going ons of other peoples lives but I don't think most people do which is why I haven't written much lately.

I went on a "bender" this weekend because it was my birthday but today I am back to no drinking and eating healthy. Boooooring.

Do we start taking salsa lessons? or start throwing crazy wild parties? I know a lot of people swing around here-hey hey!- but that's DEFNITELY not for me. But I am not sure how to make my life more exciting. Don't get me wrong. I am undeniably happy, just a little boring.